8 Things People Say When They Think You Don’t Understand Chinese and How To Respond

We don’t blame locals for assuming most expats can’t speak Chinese because a lot of us can’t. But, all the same, when you can understand enough Chinese to hear people’s public remarks, conversations can get really funny really fast if you’re armed with the right phrase.

Vanessa Jencks founded China Family Blog to connect internationally-minded parents through semi-humorous stories and China-life-and-parenting fails. She is the former managing editor of beijingkids magazine; see her previous work here. She is also the founder of the 600+ member organization, Innovative Educators.